ID help

Ladyocto · Feb 2, 2024

Hello! I hope I'm posting this in the right place. I just got my second ever octopus yesterday and could use some help iding her (I believe it's a girl). I was told she was caught somewhere in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Here are some pics

shakacuz · Feb 2, 2024

firstly; welcome aboard the r2r board! hello from PA!

secondly; a quick google search indicates it could very well be an eastern pacific octopus, although most pictures online indicate it being a much darker red. however, it does seem colored down in your pictures. considering they said that is where it was sourced, i would guess it is likely this.

Stomatopods17 · Feb 3, 2024

I'd check in on tonmo's forums, there's a lot of octopi that look identical or have subtle specifications that I would never feel comfortable giving an ID myself.

Color isn't a good way to tell (other than blue rings for obvious reasons) since cephalopods are very color shifting even in mood swings.

EDIT: yeah even from briefly looking on that forum there's so many minute things I wouldn't know where to begin for an ID.

Hadla · Feb 3, 2024

If you get a pic of it on the glass where you can see the legs and suckers, it might help a lot. And yeah, tonmo is the best place to post for an id! Does it look shiny green in some light? The color that the eyes look in the second pic you posted… It could be a briareus which will get a bit bigger. Also the mantle shape and the skin around the eyes help! If it looks like the skin around the eyes is shaped like a star, it’s a mercatoris

Ladyocto · Feb 3, 2024

shakacuz said:
firstly; welcome aboard the r2r board! hello from PA!

secondly; a quick google search indicates it could very well be an eastern pacific octopus, although most pictures online indicate it being a much darker red. however, it does seem colored down in your pictures. considering they said that is where it was sourced, i would guess it is likely this.

Thank you for the welcome !

Hadla · Feb 3, 2024

This caused me to have octos on the brain and in my dream. I want another one

Ladyocto · Feb 3, 2024

Hadla said:
If you get a pic of it on the glass where you can see the legs and suckers, it might help a lot. And yeah, tonmo is the best place to post for an id! Does it look shiny green in some light? The color that the eyes look in the second pic you posted… It could be a briareus which will get a bit bigger. Also the mantle shape and the skin around the eyes help! If it looks like the skin around the eyes is shaped like a star, it’s a mercatoris

I will definitely try to do that tonight as it seems she's nocturnal. I'm also on TONMO and did post a thread with some pics on there too, but it seems that the person who's good at IDing them hasn't been on in awhile so I just thought I would see if there was anyone else who might know. I haven't noticed any shinny green, unfortunately. I'll have to look up some pictures of Mercatoris for later when she comes out.